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Sharp fans will remember Fenerbahce and former Spain coach Luis Aragones got in a spot of bother in 2004 when he called France striker Thierry Henry a “black shit” while speaking to the “gypsy” José Antonio Reyes and was caught on camera doing it. Not something you can easily explain away.
But Aragones, being a stubborn old goat, never tried.
When asked in 2006 his famous comment and whether he would apologise, apropos of Spain’s clash with France in Germany, he wasn’t about to back down.
“No, no [I won’t apologise], don’t go down that road,” he said. “Henry knows through Reyes, through everything [how I feel]. I won’t talk about it for another second. It’s a topic that isn’t worth talking about. Why? Because it’s not like that. I have black, Gypsy and Japanese friends, including one whose job is to determine the sex of poultry.”
Which cleared everything up.
This week, though, with his Turkish side facing Arsenal in the UEFA Champions League at home, Henry’s good friend Arsene Wenger was prepared to forgive.
“Will I shake hands with [Aragones]? Why not?” he said. “He is not a racist, I have that information. Samuel Eto’o came out and said that he had him as a coach and that he was not racist at all.
“I think he wanted to motivate Reyes during the training session but it was a very clumsy sentence.”
Clumsy and stupid, and let’s be frank, offensive, but it was big of Wenger to try to consign the incident to the scrapbook. Aragones, meanwhile, has stuck to his guns.
Says a lot about Wenger and less about Aragones.
So I’m sure I wasn’t the only happy chappy to see the Gunners thump Sari Kanaryalar 5-2 on the Turks’ home turf.
On to Australian football.
A big backslap to Adelaide United coach Aurelio Vidmar and his team for leading their redoubtable side into the final of the Asian Champions League, where they will meet Japanese team Gamba Osaka in a two-leg, home-and-away tie. Overnight the Reds overcame Bunyodkor in Tashkent, losing the match 1-0 but winning on aggregate 3-1.
The decider is set down for Adelaide on November 12, a week after the first leg is played in Osaka. Adelaide has also qualified for the lucrative FIFA Club World Cup in Japan in December, irrespective of whether they lose.
A massive achievement.
It’s something of a shame that they won’t be getting to play Urawa Reds, given that club’s extraordinary home support which leaves Gamba for dead, but there’s going to be plenty of atmosphere all the same.
In the run-up to the two big games I can recommend two blogs on Japanese football, Aussie expat Mike Tuckerman’s and Ken Matsushima’s, for anyone wanting in-depth coverage of the J-League you won’t find anywhere in the Australian media.
There’s nothing these two blokes don’t know.
Unfortunately for football fans wishing for a bumper crowd, Adelaide United will playing its home tie at the 17,000-capacity Hindmarsh Stadium, so there is no chance of playing the home tie at the much bigger Adelaide Oval.
The club’s stated wish, and an understandable one, has always been to keep it at Hindmarsh and not give away any conceivable advantage to Gamba.
Football Federation Australia should give the club the A-League fixture reprieve they’re seeking in having their clash against Central Coast Mariners in Gosford on November 8 moved to another date.
Adelaide have asked for favours from the FFA before and got no joy. They’ve excelled despite all sorts of obstacles being put in their way.
This time round they’ve more than earned being cut some slack.
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